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Are Ultra-Processed Foods All That Unhealthy?

Some researchers are targeting artificial foods as a leading public health problem. As with so many dietary issues, though, the evidence tells a more…

It also encompassed products not usually thought of as junk food but made for convenience or with ingredients that are not used in home cooking, such as fruit yogurt, sliced bread, infant formula and breakfast cereal with low levels of added sugar. A prospective study of about 200,000 people published in February 2023, found that eating more ultra-processed foods such as cereals, dark or whole-grain breads, yogurts and dairy desserts was associated with slightly lower odds of developing Type 2 diabetes. The dash to improve our health by condemning a new dietary villain should set off alarms: We already have a long history of enacting nutrition policies prematurely and then scrambling them later when we get better evidence, sowing confusion, apathy and cynicism in many people’s minds.

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